Celebrate Charlie Parker's Centennial & The Origins Of Bebop With The Savoy 10-Inch Collection

[Cover Photo Credit to William P. Gottlieb/Ira and Leonore S. Gershwin Fund Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress]

Craft Recordings has announced pre-order for the release of the compact disc edition of The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection following the vinyl release, currently available here at Tower. The collection spotlights Charlie Parker’s groundbreaking bebop sessions spanning 1944 to 1948.

The CD edition features 28 tracks from the four legendary Savoy 10-inch LPs, presented with newly restored and remastered audio and a deluxe 20-page booklet containing vintage photos, rare ephemera and liner notes from Grammy Award-winning journalist and author Neil Tesser.

These historic recordings have been reissued as the world celebrates the 100^th anniversary of Parker’s birth and feature such jazz greats as Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, John Lewis, Bud Powell and Max Roach. The compact disc edition of The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection, set for a November 6^th release date, is available to pre-order.

In addition to the Savoy collection, Craft has launched a special playlist, Charlie Parker: The Centennial Collection, in honor of the 100^th anniversary of Parker’s birth. You can find that playlist available to stream on Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube and Pandora.

Neal Tesser says about how influential these tracks have been:

“Bebop undergirds such a vast swath of American music that its revolutionary nature recedes into the background. It is now so familiar and comfortable, such an ever-present part of the family history, that non-historians can hardly envision it ever being ‘revolutionary.’”

The 28 tracks that make up The Savoy 10-Inch LP Collection are some of the world’s earliest bebop recordings, including takes from a November 1945 date that is often referred to as “The Greatest Jazz Session Ever,” featuring Davis, Roach and Curley Russell appearing as “Charlie Parker’s Reboppers.”

The tracks were compiled by Savoy and released over the next several years as the four LPs reissued in this box set: New Sounds In Modern Music, Volume 1 (1950), New Sounds In Modern Music, Volume 2 (1951), as well as Volumes 3 and 4 (both released in 1952).

Because 2020 marks the 100^th anniversary of the saxophonist’s birth, there will be a celebration of his legacy through a variety of special events and performances, as well as music and art releases, collectively known as “Bird 100", taking place throughout 2020.

Here's some further information about those events and how their formats might have changed due to the global situation:

The annual Charlie Parker Event in Kansas City, Mo., which began in 2014, will also look a bit different this year and will include a mix of in-person and virtual events. Spotlight 2020: Charlie Parker, a citywide celebration of his life and music, will take place online and at various venues around Kansas City through the end of this month. KC Jazz ALIVE, University of Missouri-Kansas City, the American Jazz Museum, KC Bier Co, Kansas City Museum, Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and numerous other cultural and civic organizations have partnered to host jam sessions, tours, lectures, exhibits, panel discussions, poetry readings, workshops and concerts celebrating Charlie Parker—Kansas City’s native son. Visit spotlightcharlieparker.org/event-schedule/ for a full list of programming and events. In-person events will follow Kansas City, MO and CDC guidelines. Masks are required where six-feet social distancing is not an option.

New York City’s nonprofit cultural and community center 92Y will mark Parker’s centennial with a multidisciplinary celebration featuring 24 hours of special events this Friday (8/28) and Saturday (8/29). Conceived to highlight multiple facets of Parker’s genius and its profound influence on jazz and beyond, Charlie Parker: Now’s the Time—Celebrating Bird at 100 includes a screening of Clint Eastwood’s award-winning biopic “Bird,” a conversation-with-music led by eminent journalist, jazz critic and Celebrating Bird author Gary Giddins and featuring saxophone greats Joe Lovano, Charles McPherson, Grace Kelly and Antonio Hart, a listening party of essential Parker recordings hosted by WBGO’s Brian Delp, the premiere of a specially commissioned dance film directed and choreographed by Hope Boykin (formerly the Ailey company), an interdisciplinary visual arts event, and more. For more info and to buy tickets, visit 92Y.org/charlieparker.

Visit CharlieParkerMusic.com for more details about “Bird 100” events.